Praying for God's Great Gifts (Ephesians 2:15-22)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.280 --> 00:00:05.599 Ephesians two, Verses Fifteen through twenty two. For this reason, because I 2 00:00:05.639 --> 00:00:09.589 have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the 3 00:00:09.669 --> 00:00:14.390 saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in 4 00:00:14.509 --> 00:00:19.390 my prayers that the god of Our Lord, Jesus Christ, the Father of 5 00:00:19.510 --> 00:00:23.859 glory, May give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge 6 00:00:23.859 --> 00:00:28.820 of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know 7 00:00:29.460 --> 00:00:32.979 what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches 8 00:00:33.100 --> 00:00:37.850 of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of 9 00:00:37.929 --> 00:00:42.649 his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might, 10 00:00:43.649 --> 00:00:46.289 that he worked in Christ, when he raised him from the dead and 11 00:00:46.490 --> 00:00:50.719 seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule 12 00:00:50.840 --> 00:00:55.679 and authority and power and Dominion and above every name that is named, not 13 00:00:55.880 --> 00:00:59.479 only in this age but also in the one to come, and he put 14 00:00:59.520 --> 00:01:03.399 all things under his feet and gave his head over all things, to the 15 00:01:03.520 --> 00:01:08.590 church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in 16 00:01:08.870 --> 00:01:15.430 all, you may be seated. What's morning we looked at Jonah chapter two 17 00:01:15.469 --> 00:01:19.140 and considered a few lessons in prayer. If you weren't able to hear that, 18 00:01:19.219 --> 00:01:26.060 that should be posted online later to day, if not already. But 19 00:01:26.019 --> 00:01:29.500 here, as we come to a few Asians chapter two, we actually have 20 00:01:29.659 --> 00:01:34.489 more lessons in prayer because, like Jonah Chapter two, we have the record 21 00:01:34.569 --> 00:01:40.930 of a prayer. Right Jonah says I prayed, or did says Jonah prayed, 22 00:01:40.969 --> 00:01:44.810 and then it describes his prayer. Well, here Paul's doing a similar 23 00:01:44.930 --> 00:01:48.799 thing as he does in a lot of his letters. He tells about his 24 00:01:49.040 --> 00:01:53.680 prayer, the things that he prays for. In Verse Sixteen we read I 25 00:01:53.760 --> 00:01:57.560 do not cease to give thanks to you or for You, remembering you and 26 00:01:57.719 --> 00:02:00.670 my prayers. And then in verses seventeen through the end of that chapter, 27 00:02:00.790 --> 00:02:07.269 he describes the content of those prayers. He talks about the ways in which 28 00:02:07.310 --> 00:02:12.830 he is praying for the Ephesian Christians, and I want to just work through 29 00:02:12.830 --> 00:02:16.659 the passage tonight. I'm just a section by section, thinking about what it 30 00:02:16.780 --> 00:02:21.979 is he's praying for and and what that means for us, because the things 31 00:02:22.020 --> 00:02:25.060 that he's praying for he is praying according to God's will. So as we 32 00:02:25.180 --> 00:02:30.289 hear that, we hear an expression of what God desires for his church, 33 00:02:30.449 --> 00:02:35.210 and as we think about that, I want to think about that connected with 34 00:02:35.250 --> 00:02:42.009 the very first verse, which is for this reason, because I have heard 35 00:02:42.009 --> 00:02:45.680 of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward the saints or all 36 00:02:45.719 --> 00:02:49.199 the saints, I do not cease to give thanks and pray in this way. 37 00:02:50.319 --> 00:02:59.270 So just connect those things for a moment. Paul is happy about these 38 00:02:59.310 --> 00:03:04.590 Christians. He has heard of their faith in the Lord Jesus and their love, 39 00:03:04.710 --> 00:03:09.349 and he gives thanks. If you ever Find Yourself, I'm hesitant for 40 00:03:09.550 --> 00:03:15.819 some reason or another, for a doctrinal reason, let's say, a hesitant, 41 00:03:15.860 --> 00:03:20.219 to encourage someone for the good things that you're seeing in them. What 42 00:03:20.539 --> 00:03:25.659 this verse disabuse you of that? I hear Paul is encouraging these Christians for 43 00:03:25.939 --> 00:03:30.129 good things that he sees in them, and that's a good thing and no 44 00:03:30.289 --> 00:03:35.409 doubt that was encouraging, after all of this teaching that he's been pouring out 45 00:03:35.449 --> 00:03:39.409 in verses one through fourteen, to be reminded, to be told that I'm 46 00:03:39.490 --> 00:03:43.599 telling you these things not because I don't think you know anything, but to 47 00:03:43.919 --> 00:03:49.039 build you up to lift you up. Paul sees in this church already faith 48 00:03:49.240 --> 00:03:53.680 and love. What is maybe this summary of the whole Christian faith, faith 49 00:03:53.759 --> 00:04:00.229 in the Lord Jesus and love that extends out from that faith, particularly to 50 00:04:00.389 --> 00:04:06.710 the saints. Our brothers, are sisters, our family, but this faith 51 00:04:06.789 --> 00:04:13.819 in love that they have is not a static thing. It's intended to grow. 52 00:04:14.699 --> 00:04:16.699 Right, Paul doesn't say I've heard of your faith and love, so 53 00:04:17.100 --> 00:04:21.699 this will be the last time I'm writing to you because you finally reached official 54 00:04:21.779 --> 00:04:27.490 Churchdom, or something like that. You've finally reached the final state, and 55 00:04:27.610 --> 00:04:30.490 so I'm moving on to plant other churches. No, he says, I've 56 00:04:30.569 --> 00:04:33.449 heard of this faith in love and I give thanks, and so that's why 57 00:04:33.850 --> 00:04:39.199 I pray for you that God would bless you with all of these continuing things. 58 00:04:42.160 --> 00:04:46.920 John Calvin wrote the knowledge of the Godly is never so pure that it 59 00:04:46.120 --> 00:04:51.680 is a clear and unclouded vision. Right, even the most righteous among us, 60 00:04:51.680 --> 00:04:58.029 even the most understanding and knowledgeable of God, we still have blind spots, 61 00:04:58.629 --> 00:05:01.389 we still have blurry vision, we still have ways in which we struggle 62 00:05:01.470 --> 00:05:08.060 to see and understand the things of the Lord. And so we are called 63 00:05:08.139 --> 00:05:14.620 to grow, grow, through this faith that is both expressed and asked for 64 00:05:14.980 --> 00:05:18.620 in prayer. This is one of the ways in which we grow in the 65 00:05:18.740 --> 00:05:26.129 Lord through prayer, and that's because prayer is intimately connected to faith. It's 66 00:05:26.170 --> 00:05:30.529 a communication to the Lord in which we are trusting him, speaking to him, 67 00:05:30.569 --> 00:05:34.920 depending on him and then, even that, receiving from him his answers, 68 00:05:35.279 --> 00:05:41.720 his gifts, his promises. We speak to him, I'm hopefully, 69 00:05:41.920 --> 00:05:45.680 in true prayer and true faithful prayer. Were speaking to him in the name 70 00:05:45.759 --> 00:05:50.550 of the Lord Jesus, depending and setting ourselves on him, who came to 71 00:05:50.670 --> 00:05:59.069 save us, who came to be a a one, to reconcile US between 72 00:05:59.110 --> 00:06:03.620 a reconcile us to God. We pray in the name of the Lord Jesus, 73 00:06:03.699 --> 00:06:08.620 we pray according to the will of the Father in heaven. And in 74 00:06:08.740 --> 00:06:11.939 these things, like a good father, he pours out his blessings. He 75 00:06:12.579 --> 00:06:15.860 says, of course, my children here, you grow, go and grow, 76 00:06:15.819 --> 00:06:21.370 and he takes care of them that way. So how is it that 77 00:06:21.410 --> 00:06:27.970 these Ephesians are going to grow? In what specific ways does Paul pray for 78 00:06:28.089 --> 00:06:30.810 them? And, in turn, we might ask what kinds of things ought 79 00:06:30.850 --> 00:06:35.879 we to desire as well for ourselves. What kinds of things ought we to 80 00:06:36.000 --> 00:06:42.560 pray for as we also grow in faith and in love? Well, he 81 00:06:42.639 --> 00:06:46.949 begins in verse seventeen and he says this, that the God of our Lord 82 00:06:46.949 --> 00:06:51.829 Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, May give you a spirit of wisdom 83 00:06:51.870 --> 00:07:00.910 and revelation in the knowledge of him. He begins with the one who gives. 84 00:07:00.949 --> 00:07:04.660 He prays to God, because God is the one who who gives to 85 00:07:04.819 --> 00:07:12.100 us, and he calls God, he calls he refers to God, the 86 00:07:12.180 --> 00:07:15.250 father. This way, the God of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father 87 00:07:15.370 --> 00:07:21.250 of glory. Now, if that strikes you as odd, I'm if that 88 00:07:21.689 --> 00:07:29.209 sort of feels a little doctrinally off, that the father would be called the 89 00:07:29.410 --> 00:07:33.399 God of Jesus, then it's good to ask yourself why, as I've been 90 00:07:33.439 --> 00:07:39.040 saying a lot lately, when we read something in scripture that sounds doctrinally wrong, 91 00:07:40.600 --> 00:07:46.709 we should check ourselves right. This is not an opportunity to change scripture 92 00:07:46.709 --> 00:07:50.029 right, it's an opportunity to change our hearts and what we believe. So 93 00:07:50.470 --> 00:07:54.550 of course we want to understand it rightly. What is why does Paul Call 94 00:07:55.430 --> 00:08:01.259 God the God of Jesus Christ? Well, of course that seems a little 95 00:08:01.259 --> 00:08:05.420 bit off. Perhaps to you it might seem a little bit off because you 96 00:08:05.579 --> 00:08:11.100 believe that Jesus is God. Right, Jesus is God. And if Jesus 97 00:08:11.139 --> 00:08:16.689 is God, well then how can God the father be? Jesus is God. 98 00:08:18.490 --> 00:08:22.730 Well, he is the God and the Lord and the father of Jesus 99 00:08:22.970 --> 00:08:28.600 is God, in particular in accord with his humanity. That's the thing that's 100 00:08:28.600 --> 00:08:31.639 emphasized here. It's not a denial of the divinity of Christ. That's what 101 00:08:31.759 --> 00:08:35.039 our worry is, and rightfully so. We don't want to deny the divinity 102 00:08:35.080 --> 00:08:39.519 of Christ. But as much as we don't want it to do as much 103 00:08:39.519 --> 00:08:43.629 as we don't want to deny the divinity of Christ, we also don't want 104 00:08:43.629 --> 00:08:48.669 to deny the humanity of Christ. Right and as and as a human, 105 00:08:48.710 --> 00:08:56.700 Jesus has taken on created nature. He is taken on the uncreated God has 106 00:08:56.820 --> 00:09:03.500 taken on human nature and he is he. And in that way, God 107 00:09:03.580 --> 00:09:09.259 the father is to Jesus in he is humanity, his God. And that's 108 00:09:09.340 --> 00:09:15.009 not a sort of Phie in the sky kind of doctrinal point. That's super 109 00:09:15.129 --> 00:09:22.289 important and that's because we are not saved unless Jesus becomes human. Our reconciliation 110 00:09:22.610 --> 00:09:28.720 to God only happens because Jesus takes on our part, because he takes on 111 00:09:28.799 --> 00:09:33.559 our humanity, and he does the things in humanity that we had not done. 112 00:09:35.600 --> 00:09:39.990 He suffers for us in the ways that we could never suffer fully for 113 00:09:39.149 --> 00:09:45.149 our sins. In order to save us, Jesus had to become man, 114 00:09:46.389 --> 00:09:50.470 he had to step in relationship to the covenant. Instead of being covenant Lord 115 00:09:50.509 --> 00:09:54.779 and King, which he always remains in his divinity, he had to take 116 00:09:54.820 --> 00:10:00.460 on humanity, in which he had to be obedient and fulfill all the things 117 00:10:00.539 --> 00:10:05.620 that Adam, that created man, failed to do. If it weren't for 118 00:10:05.700 --> 00:10:09.769 the incarnation of Jesus, if it weren't for Jesus taking on this humanity, 119 00:10:11.169 --> 00:10:18.809 we would still be in our sins. And so Paul speaks of him in 120 00:10:18.889 --> 00:10:22.720 this way, partly to remind us of Christ's great mediation, in which our 121 00:10:22.960 --> 00:10:28.159 salvations is centered on and rests on, but also as a reminder to these 122 00:10:28.279 --> 00:10:35.279 gentile Christians that Jesus is not just the God of Abraham, Isaac Jacob and 123 00:10:35.480 --> 00:10:41.149 Israel, but he is the god of all humanity. The Saints of the 124 00:10:41.269 --> 00:10:46.950 Lord now include the gentiles as well, the EPHESIAN Christians, the TUC son 125 00:10:48.070 --> 00:10:54.659 Christians, all who believe and trust in Jesus. Who is God in man 126 00:10:56.779 --> 00:11:01.700 and what is he ask then, of the father, God, the Father? 127 00:11:03.940 --> 00:11:07.730 He says that the Father of glory may give you a spirit of wisdom 128 00:11:07.610 --> 00:11:15.889 and of revelation in the knowledge of him. This is likely echoing themes and 129 00:11:16.169 --> 00:11:20.039 in promises in the Old Testament, like Isaiah Eleven, two through three, 130 00:11:20.759 --> 00:11:26.039 these promises in which the spirit is promised to come and open our eyes, 131 00:11:26.279 --> 00:11:28.679 open our hearts, to give us an understanding of God that we could not 132 00:11:28.840 --> 00:11:35.629 have otherwise. Paul makes this fascinating argument in First Corinthians, where he says, 133 00:11:37.110 --> 00:11:43.470 and I'm paraphrasing here, but he says you can't know the mind of 134 00:11:43.509 --> 00:11:48.139 a human person unless they reveal themselves to you. Right, and you know 135 00:11:48.340 --> 00:11:52.500 this. Who talked a husbands and wife? Tell me what you're thinking. 136 00:11:52.539 --> 00:11:56.340 I can't know what you're saying unless you tell me. We can't know each 137 00:11:56.379 --> 00:11:58.860 other's intentions, not fully, and we're you know. They have to be 138 00:12:00.019 --> 00:12:03.970 revealed in some way. And Paul says, if this is true for humans, 139 00:12:05.049 --> 00:12:09.129 this is also true for God and whose image we are made. We 140 00:12:09.250 --> 00:12:13.289 have no access to the knowledge of God unless the spirit of God reveals God 141 00:12:13.570 --> 00:12:20.840 to us right we can't. There's no way to know him in unless he 142 00:12:20.480 --> 00:12:26.600 gives us that revelation, and in particular by his spirit. This is important 143 00:12:26.639 --> 00:12:31.710 because we often think of God is this sort of abstract body of knowledge that 144 00:12:31.789 --> 00:12:33.710 we can go pick up, you know, like a textbook off the shelf. 145 00:12:35.629 --> 00:12:39.110 May Be tempting, because we do have textbooks about God, textbooks about 146 00:12:39.149 --> 00:12:43.980 theology, textbooks, books that teach us about them and even teach us truly, 147 00:12:46.379 --> 00:12:50.179 but God is not a set of principles that we can merely go to 148 00:12:50.419 --> 00:12:54.539 and and absorb. Nor is he a kind of great feeling or energy that 149 00:12:54.620 --> 00:13:01.370 we can, through spiritual practices or something like that, kind of lift ourselves 150 00:13:01.450 --> 00:13:07.850 or toss ourselves into this kind of cloud of experience or something like that. 151 00:13:09.129 --> 00:13:15.320 No, God is a triune being, a try in God, Father, 152 00:13:15.480 --> 00:13:20.039 son and Holy Spirit, who is known only as he reveals himself to us. 153 00:13:22.120 --> 00:13:26.200 Now, sure, we might be able to study a textbooks of theology, 154 00:13:26.120 --> 00:13:31.309 we might come to understand him through prayer or other means, but that's 155 00:13:31.470 --> 00:13:37.029 only because he has first revealed himself to us, to others who explain him 156 00:13:37.029 --> 00:13:41.659 to us, to our own hearts, which are illumined. And that's what 157 00:13:41.779 --> 00:13:46.740 he's asking for here. Paul's asking that God would give, would God would 158 00:13:46.740 --> 00:13:52.620 reveal through his spirit wisdom and knowledge that they, that these Effesian Christians, 159 00:13:52.659 --> 00:13:56.450 and that all of us, that God would give a spirit of wisdom and 160 00:13:56.690 --> 00:14:05.009 revelation in the knowledge of him. Notice also the the these two words wisdom 161 00:14:05.090 --> 00:14:11.759 and revelation. The knowledge of God is not a bare knowledge, it's not 162 00:14:11.919 --> 00:14:16.000 just a set of facts. The wisdom part of it, the revelation, 163 00:14:16.200 --> 00:14:20.399 tells us that it has to be revealed to us right there's the something about 164 00:14:20.519 --> 00:14:24.470 God that we can't know unless it's told to us. The wisdom part tells 165 00:14:24.509 --> 00:14:28.669 us that that other kind of knowledge that's more than just facts, more than 166 00:14:28.710 --> 00:14:35.269 just content, but it's this applied wisdom, applied knowledge, taking the things 167 00:14:35.309 --> 00:14:37.820 of the Lord and then acting in a proper way, living in a right 168 00:14:37.899 --> 00:14:43.419 relationship with him, that that we might say a higher level of knowing, 169 00:14:43.179 --> 00:14:48.659 is also dependent on the Lord. So even if we get a correct set 170 00:14:48.740 --> 00:14:52.250 of facts, it's still not enough without his spirit also causing us to really 171 00:14:52.649 --> 00:15:00.690 live in them, to know them these ephesian Christians are Christians who are exhibiting 172 00:15:00.730 --> 00:15:07.639 their faith in love right there, living out their faith in these obedient ways. 173 00:15:07.519 --> 00:15:11.879 That's possible because of the spirit of God and we, and so Paul 174 00:15:11.919 --> 00:15:18.440 asked that God would continue to pour that out on them. So that's the 175 00:15:18.519 --> 00:15:20.509 first thing. Paul Prays for, that the God of Our Lord, Jesus 176 00:15:20.549 --> 00:15:24.710 Christ, the Father of glory, May give you a spirit of wisdom and 177 00:15:26.350 --> 00:15:33.509 of revelation in what in the knowledge of him. The second thing is parallel 178 00:15:33.549 --> 00:15:39.379 to that and explains it further. He says and having the eyes of your 179 00:15:39.460 --> 00:15:48.019 hearts enlightened and the eyes of your hearts enlightened. I'm earlier I mentioned and 180 00:15:48.100 --> 00:15:52.169 I guess it wasn't heard by also I'll say it again. The ancient world 181 00:15:52.330 --> 00:15:58.009 was a dark world. Right. Steve Ba reminded me of this in his 182 00:15:58.210 --> 00:16:04.279 commentary. It was a dark world. If without the sunshining, that was 183 00:16:04.360 --> 00:16:10.679 it. You could have candles perhaps, but those were small things, flickering 184 00:16:10.759 --> 00:16:15.600 things. Perhaps the biggest lights that someone might see would be a bonfire on 185 00:16:15.720 --> 00:16:19.789 the moon, of course, the sun in the daytime. To have the 186 00:16:21.190 --> 00:16:26.230 eyes of your hearts enlightened is important. We're apt to forget the darkness of 187 00:16:26.309 --> 00:16:30.429 this world because we have so much light around us constantly, all the time. 188 00:16:32.710 --> 00:16:38.460 But the darkness of this world is not merely a visual darkness. It's 189 00:16:40.179 --> 00:16:44.539 a fleshly one, a spiritual darkness. I mean to say as well. 190 00:16:44.580 --> 00:16:49.450 We can't know the things of the Lord because we can't see the things of 191 00:16:49.529 --> 00:16:55.450 the Lord, any more than you can find your shoes or your keys if 192 00:16:55.529 --> 00:16:57.850 all the lights are off in your house and it's a dark night outside and 193 00:16:59.450 --> 00:17:03.640 you know your left just feeling around. People are like that in this world 194 00:17:03.680 --> 00:17:08.279 and it's sad. They have a sense that God is out there, or 195 00:17:08.279 --> 00:17:11.960 they have a sense that they all obedience to him, but they just fumble 196 00:17:12.079 --> 00:17:17.950 around, fumble around going after this thing and that thing. They fall, 197 00:17:18.269 --> 00:17:22.390 they trip, they hurt themselves, they find something that seems important, they 198 00:17:22.390 --> 00:17:26.430 say, Oh, this must be God. Oh No, that's not God, 199 00:17:26.470 --> 00:17:30.019 it's just a vase. That's not God, that's just your cat. 200 00:17:30.420 --> 00:17:33.819 But that's what we do. We take these creaturely things of the world and 201 00:17:33.900 --> 00:17:37.460 we left them. I was I found it. How do we get out 202 00:17:37.460 --> 00:17:41.980 of that darkness? How do we get out of that blindness? The Bible 203 00:17:41.099 --> 00:17:45.970 is very clear on this point. The eyes of our hearts, the most 204 00:17:47.170 --> 00:17:52.369 inward parts of our beings, have to be enlightened. The cloudiness, the 205 00:17:52.490 --> 00:17:56.009 darkness, the blindness, has to be taken away so that we can open 206 00:17:56.049 --> 00:18:04.039 up, so that we can see, see what God has done, see 207 00:18:04.119 --> 00:18:10.880 who he is. Then that brings us to the third thing. He says. 208 00:18:11.440 --> 00:18:15.750 Then we might receive this spirit of revelation and wisdom in the knowledge of 209 00:18:15.789 --> 00:18:19.349 him and have or and having the eyes of our heart, of our hearts, 210 00:18:19.390 --> 00:18:25.390 enlightened. Third, that you may know what is the hope to which 211 00:18:25.430 --> 00:18:30.220 he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the 212 00:18:30.339 --> 00:18:34.660 saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power towards us who believe? 213 00:18:37.660 --> 00:18:42.849 So, list of three things. First, when we come to the 214 00:18:44.009 --> 00:18:47.970 knowledge of God in Christ, by the power of the spirit, when we 215 00:18:48.170 --> 00:18:52.490 come into a relationship with the Father in heaven, even as Jesus has a 216 00:18:52.609 --> 00:18:59.720 relationship with the father in heaven, something changes, and one of those things 217 00:18:59.759 --> 00:19:03.720 is that we have hope. That's one of those things that we come to 218 00:19:03.799 --> 00:19:06.680 know. That's one of those things that we call come to see you, 219 00:19:07.200 --> 00:19:11.230 and we talk about this in visual language and light language. Right, he'll 220 00:19:11.910 --> 00:19:15.029 don't worry, there's a light at the end of the tunnel. Right. 221 00:19:15.150 --> 00:19:18.990 You know, phrases like that that we have embedded in our in our language, 222 00:19:18.269 --> 00:19:25.259 phrases that connect vision and light and hope. If you can't see the 223 00:19:25.299 --> 00:19:26.819 light at the end of the tunnel, you have no hope. You're stuck 224 00:19:26.859 --> 00:19:32.099 in darkness. But Paul says, is when the spirit comes we can see, 225 00:19:32.859 --> 00:19:34.900 we can see and we can have hope, something to move forward to, 226 00:19:36.380 --> 00:19:41.690 something to rest in, something to be strong in. Paul wants the 227 00:19:41.769 --> 00:19:47.849 Ephesian Christians and he wants all Christians who trust in this, in the Lord 228 00:19:47.930 --> 00:19:56.240 Jesus and in his father, to have that hope. Not a strange hope, 229 00:19:56.000 --> 00:20:00.039 not a made up hope, but, as he says, a hope 230 00:20:00.079 --> 00:20:04.519 to which you have been called, purposed by God. And as I say 231 00:20:04.559 --> 00:20:08.109 that, I hope your minds just race back to the beginning of Effesians one 232 00:20:08.470 --> 00:20:15.789 and think about all of the things that we discussed and discovered there. And 233 00:20:15.950 --> 00:20:19.390 we can say the same thing about the next thing that he says. Having 234 00:20:19.430 --> 00:20:22.259 the hearts of your are the eyes of your hearts enlightened that you might know 235 00:20:22.539 --> 00:20:26.579 what is the hope to which he has called you to what are the riches 236 00:20:26.740 --> 00:20:33.380 of his glorious inheritance in the saints? As I said before, the Adfhusian 237 00:20:33.420 --> 00:20:41.490 Christians at as gentiles, pagans, before coming to faith in Christ as stood, 238 00:20:41.650 --> 00:20:45.650 to put it in theological terms, outside of the Covenant, they did 239 00:20:45.809 --> 00:20:51.680 not have a right to belong to the promises of God, not by birth 240 00:20:51.720 --> 00:20:56.359 anyway. They weren't children of Abraham. They didn't belong to God's special family 241 00:20:56.680 --> 00:21:00.279 that he had been, that he had had as the apple of his eye 242 00:21:00.359 --> 00:21:07.910 for generation after generation after generation. This glorious inheritance in the saints that used 243 00:21:07.950 --> 00:21:15.029 to be over there and for those people now belongs to them. What are 244 00:21:15.069 --> 00:21:18.269 the riches? He wants them to know? What are the riches of his 245 00:21:18.430 --> 00:21:22.660 glorious inheritance in the saints, which is now theirs? And then, finally, 246 00:21:22.819 --> 00:21:32.579 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe? 247 00:21:33.289 --> 00:21:41.450 The immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe? I'd encourage you to 248 00:21:41.569 --> 00:21:45.730 memorize that phrase and let it rattle around in your brain over the next week. 249 00:21:47.359 --> 00:21:52.799 The immeasurable greatness of his power. Let it rattle around in your brain, 250 00:21:52.920 --> 00:21:56.440 because it's something you won't be able to fully comprehend. Right, because 251 00:21:56.440 --> 00:22:00.710 it's immeasurable. Right. You know they tell you when you're when you write, 252 00:22:00.829 --> 00:22:04.230 you're supposed to take statistics sticks and put them in terms that people can 253 00:22:04.309 --> 00:22:08.150 understand. Right, you don't just say a billion dollars. You Express that 254 00:22:08.309 --> 00:22:11.990 billion in a way that you can kind of grasp. You can't grasp this 255 00:22:12.190 --> 00:22:15.819 one. Right, it's not a billion, it's not a trillion, it's 256 00:22:17.140 --> 00:22:26.859 immeasurable, the immeasurable greatness of his power. Thinking back to Jonah this morning, 257 00:22:26.900 --> 00:22:33.650 all of them power, of that wind, all of the ship breaking 258 00:22:33.690 --> 00:22:38.329 apart, in the fish swallowing Jonah and Jonah of his life being taken in 259 00:22:38.410 --> 00:22:42.809 away at all, it's just that tiny, tiny little event in the course 260 00:22:42.890 --> 00:22:48.400 of history, this one little event on the sea and the Mediterranean, this 261 00:22:48.759 --> 00:22:55.960 tiny little thing that was happening, was tiny in comparison with the entire universe 262 00:22:56.359 --> 00:23:00.390 at that very moment that God was upholding simply and easily, simply by the 263 00:23:00.509 --> 00:23:08.029 power of his will, millions, billions, trillions, immeasurable numbers of events 264 00:23:08.390 --> 00:23:17.180 simultaneously happening simultaneously being worked together in the history of the world by God. 265 00:23:18.579 --> 00:23:26.329 We might look at one miracle here or one fantastic event here, but even 266 00:23:26.450 --> 00:23:34.250 those things, as you pan back, are tiny and you can keep panning 267 00:23:34.369 --> 00:23:37.930 back, back, back, back, back and you'll never get to the 268 00:23:38.490 --> 00:23:44.240 God. You'll never get to him. And then kind of get behind God 269 00:23:44.400 --> 00:23:47.880 right and then be able to say, okay, I can see him now, 270 00:23:47.920 --> 00:23:53.319 I can see what he's doing. The immeasurable greatness of his power, 271 00:23:56.670 --> 00:24:03.150 but not raw power, he says, the immeasurable greatness of his power toward 272 00:24:03.470 --> 00:24:14.059 us who believe. What an amazing thing. As we get towards the end 273 00:24:14.099 --> 00:24:19.859 of this chapter, he says of Jesus and he put all things under his 274 00:24:21.059 --> 00:24:25.730 feet. Right, this is an expression of power, kingly authority, stamping 275 00:24:25.970 --> 00:24:34.970 down enemies. What we find is that the immeasurable greatness of the power of 276 00:24:36.089 --> 00:24:41.359 God is it is as it is exercised in Christ. The king does not 277 00:24:41.920 --> 00:24:49.400 stomp us into oblivion. Instead, as he goes on to say, he 278 00:24:49.599 --> 00:24:55.789 is given head over all things to the church toward us who believes. Parallel 279 00:24:55.869 --> 00:25:02.390 phrases there which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in 280 00:25:02.430 --> 00:25:12.980 all, to paraphrase something one of the reformers will getting musical is says. 281 00:25:15.380 --> 00:25:19.059 He says that Christ does not put us under his feet as he does with 282 00:25:19.180 --> 00:25:23.890 his enemies, according to Psalm one hundred and ten palm too, but he 283 00:25:23.970 --> 00:25:30.450 holds us in his hand. That's what he's saying here. When he exercises 284 00:25:30.529 --> 00:25:34.089 the measurable greatness of his power towards those who don't believe, they're crushed, 285 00:25:34.130 --> 00:25:37.960 as we sang in Psalm two earlier. They're blown away like the chaff in 286 00:25:38.039 --> 00:25:42.480 the wind, those who conspire against the Lord, those who seek to break 287 00:25:42.599 --> 00:25:49.190 apart the bonds of the Lord and his messiahs anointed one. It's no problem 288 00:25:49.309 --> 00:25:56.789 for him. They are put in subjection under his feet. But, as 289 00:25:56.829 --> 00:26:03.029 he says in John Ten twenty nine, no one will seize them, his 290 00:26:03.230 --> 00:26:07.380 people, his church, out of his hand. Why? Because we are 291 00:26:07.579 --> 00:26:14.859 his body, he says. We are not his enemies. We are so 292 00:26:15.420 --> 00:26:23.450 closely united to him that the scriptures tell us we are his body and the 293 00:26:23.569 --> 00:26:33.359 fullness of God who fills all in all, these are wonderful things to meditate 294 00:26:33.559 --> 00:26:37.799 on, and these are the things that God promises to us in Christ, 295 00:26:40.319 --> 00:26:45.559 that we come to know when the spirit of God gives us wisdom and knowledge 296 00:26:47.150 --> 00:26:53.990 so that we can believe and walk in love. This power that is exercised 297 00:26:55.309 --> 00:27:00.109 toward us, those who believe, according to the great might of God, 298 00:27:00.309 --> 00:27:03.859 is all done in the Lord Jesus Christ, as he says in Verse Twenty, 299 00:27:06.140 --> 00:27:11.460 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated 300 00:27:11.500 --> 00:27:15.170 him at the right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and 301 00:27:15.250 --> 00:27:19.289 authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not 302 00:27:19.490 --> 00:27:27.450 only in this age but in the one to come as well. It might 303 00:27:27.490 --> 00:27:33.000 be helpful to remember here that the Ephesians were steeped in a very magical world, 304 00:27:33.720 --> 00:27:41.480 a world and where there were gods and goddesses and spirits and and charms 305 00:27:41.599 --> 00:27:48.829 and amulets and names that you would collect in order to have power over people, 306 00:27:48.269 --> 00:27:52.109 names of God's that you wouldn't tell other people, less they take power 307 00:27:52.269 --> 00:27:57.430 over you. It was a scare every world, a terrifying world, full 308 00:27:57.470 --> 00:28:04.579 of all kinds of things, all kinds of spirits and powers and and in 309 00:28:04.740 --> 00:28:11.380 some ways they were right about this. They were not right to give these 310 00:28:14.369 --> 00:28:21.730 demons the name of God. They were not right to attribute to these powers 311 00:28:21.769 --> 00:28:30.319 and these forces of darkness divine ability. But they have a sense that sometimes 312 00:28:30.400 --> 00:28:37.240 we forget in our very mechanical and materialistic world or our age, but the 313 00:28:37.319 --> 00:28:45.230 world is full of darkness and that we battle spiritual things. Paul recognizes this 314 00:28:45.309 --> 00:28:49.029 and he speaks to their fear and he says you don't need to be afraid 315 00:28:49.069 --> 00:28:56.339 of anything. Why? Because this one, whom God has raised from the 316 00:28:56.380 --> 00:29:04.059 dead and seated at his right hand to this victorious kingly image in the heavenly 317 00:29:04.180 --> 00:29:11.130 places, far above any and all rule, power and authority and Dominion, 318 00:29:11.170 --> 00:29:15.490 above every name that is named, every spirit, every God, every goddess, 319 00:29:15.569 --> 00:29:19.730 everything that you might fear. He's above them all. He's more power 320 00:29:19.849 --> 00:29:26.000 from them all. He puts them under his feet. Quoting Musculus, he 321 00:29:26.160 --> 00:29:32.279 says he does not have us under his feet, where he would keep wolves 322 00:29:32.359 --> 00:29:36.759 and bears and lions, that is, every hostile power. Keeps us in 323 00:29:36.880 --> 00:29:41.109 his hand, where he serves and protects us. We are kept in the 324 00:29:41.230 --> 00:29:45.630 loving hand of God, protected, served, cared for, watched over. 325 00:29:48.029 --> 00:29:51.910 But all of those things we fear, all of the ones that would seek 326 00:29:51.910 --> 00:29:59.420 to do us harm, he crushes, he destroys by the immeasurable power of 327 00:29:59.579 --> 00:30:03.220 his greatness. To those who do not fear God, this should be terrifying 328 00:30:04.339 --> 00:30:08.809 to know that God who sends storms and raises people from the dead and who 329 00:30:08.849 --> 00:30:12.490 has sent his son into the world and seated him now at his right hand 330 00:30:12.569 --> 00:30:18.250 to rule in this way. They ought to fear, they ought to tremble 331 00:30:18.329 --> 00:30:23.200 and kiss the son lest they be destroyed. But to those was who know 332 00:30:23.599 --> 00:30:30.519 Jesus Christ, those of us who have been who have had the eyes of 333 00:30:30.599 --> 00:30:34.950 our hearts enlightened so that we can see we've been given hope, beloved, 334 00:30:37.109 --> 00:30:42.190 we don't need to fear anything. Nothing Paul says can separate us from the 335 00:30:42.470 --> 00:30:48.549 love of God in Christ Jesus. Not Height, not depth, not things 336 00:30:48.589 --> 00:30:55.579 above nothings, a blow, nothing, he says in Romans, and he's 337 00:30:55.619 --> 00:30:59.900 expressing a similar thing here. He's praying, he a similar thing here, 338 00:31:00.700 --> 00:31:04.490 that we would come to know these things, to trust this Lord more and 339 00:31:04.650 --> 00:31:11.730 more, and in doing so we that we might grow, that we might 340 00:31:11.849 --> 00:31:15.609 grow in the praise of his name, that we might grow in hope, 341 00:31:15.690 --> 00:31:18.759 that we might grow in knowledge, that we might grow in love. How 342 00:31:18.839 --> 00:31:22.759 does it happen? How do we, as the body of Christ, grow 343 00:31:25.480 --> 00:31:33.109 by God answering these very requests in our prayers. And so let's learn to 344 00:31:33.230 --> 00:31:40.589 pray in this way. Let's learn to believe not the speculations of our hearts. 345 00:31:41.869 --> 00:31:47.539 Let's learn not to wander around in the darkness and feel after vain things 346 00:31:47.660 --> 00:31:52.940 and hope in vain glory, but to put our hope in the father of 347 00:31:52.099 --> 00:31:57.500 glory, who has sent his son and his spirit into this world so that 348 00:31:57.619 --> 00:32:05.970 we might belong to the body of Christ and be called sons and daughters of 349 00:32:06.049 --> 00:32:10.250 the Living God, to have an inheritance in Christ and to be kept in 350 00:32:10.329 --> 00:32:20.480 it all by the immeasurable power of God toward us who believe. Let's pray